23 Nov, 2025 08:31
Dan Driscoll: Who is Trump’s supposed new special representative for Ukraine? 1/2
The US secretary of the army has abruptly delved into Ukraine negotiations, apparently sidelining Keith Kellogg
US Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll has made an unexpected debut in the Ukraine conflict settlement process. He traveled to Kiev this week to present the Ukrainian leadership Washington’s proposed peace plan.
RT takes a look at the 35-year-old official, reportedly US President Donald Trump’s new special envoy, who holds one ofthe most senior civilian posts in the Pentagon hierarchyand has made international headlines with his surprise Ukraine trip.
Political outsider, friend of JD Vance
Before being tapped by Trump late last year to becomethe secretary of the army, Driscoll had kept a low public profile. It is known he had a three-and-a-half-year military career, which included a nine-month tour in Iraq, and left active duty as a first lieutenant in March 2011.
Driscoll is known to be a friend and former classmate of US Vice President J.D. Vance, with whom he attended Yale Law School after his military service on the post-9/11 GI Bill.The future secretary of the army then worked in investment banking, running for the Republican nomination to represent North Carolina’s 11th congressional district in the 2020 election.
Assault on the military-industrial complex
Driscoll has repeatedly called for an overhaul of the US military’s procurement system, which is dominated by the Big Five: Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, and Northrop Grumman.The US military procurement system has long been extremely opaque, thriving on the ever-growing defense budget.
The procurement practices, when they come to light, have repeatedly caused public controversies, ranging from the ballooning costs of F-35 fighter jets, known for having suffered from technical problems, to special,purportedly military-grade bushings that cost some $90,000 per small plastic bag - while civilian analogues cost around $100 at most.
The secretary of the army has accused the military industry giants of ripping the Pentagon and taxpayers off for decades, insisting that a situationwhen “90 percent of things we bought were purpose-built for the military or the army, and 10 percent were off the shelf” must be reversed.
“The defense industrial base broadly, and the primes in particular, conned the American people and the Pentagon and the army into thinking that it needed military-specific solutions, when in reality, a lot of these commercial solutions are equal to or better, and we’ve actually harmed ourselves with that mentality,”he said earlier this month.
Abrupt emergence in Ukrainian crisis
This week,Driscoll unexpectedly delved into the Ukrainian crisis, bringing the latest US draft peace plan to Kievand demanding it be signed by next Thursday. The draft has reportedly been widely perceivedamongst Kiev’s Western European backers as an “ultimatum” to Ukraine, demanding its “surrender.”
https://www.rt.com/news/628223-trump-ukraine-plan-driscoll/